Components of Assessment	Method(s)	Percentage Weighting
Coursework	One 2000 word essay based on one of the course core themes	15 credits

The course aims to

• provide students with an understanding of the relationship between sociological theory and method in social research; 
• introduce some basic issues in the philosophy of social science; 
• give students an insight into the ways in which theoretical frameworks inform, or are presupposed by, certain forms of analysis; 
• critically reflect on assumptions about social research.

The course will address a range of issues and topics including :

• Interpretation and explanation
• The relationship between social scientific and lay accounts
• Categorisation and identity
• Issues bearing on the scientific status of social research
• The social construction of knowledge
• Critical and descriptive social research
• Feminist social research
• Reflexivity

Selected references 

Boltanski, L and Thevenot, L (2006) On Jusification, Princeton University Press

 Delamont, S (2003) Feminist Sociology, Sage.

 Delanty, G and Strydom, P (eds) (2003) Philosophies of Social Science, Open University Press.

 Garfinkel, H (2002) Ethnomethodology’s  Program, Rowman and Littlefield.

 Geertz, C (2000) Available Light, Princeton .

 Harvey , L (1990) Critical Social Research, Unwin Hyman.

 Hughes, J and Shorrock, W (1997) The Philosophy of Social Research, Longman.

 McCarl-Nielsen, J (1990) Feminist Research Methods,  Westview Press.

 Rabinow, P (ed) (1986) The Foucault Reader, Penguin.

 Silverman, D (1993) Interpreting Qualitative Data, Sage

 Smith, D (1990) Texts, Facts and Femininity, Routledge.

 Steier, F (1991) Research and Reflexivity, Sage.

 Williams, M and May, T (1996) Introduction to the Philosophy of Social Research, UCL Press.